Endovascular treatment of thoracic aortic disease: four years of experience.

Abstract

BACKGROUNDThe aim of this retrospective study is to investigate efficacy and middle-term results
of the stent graft treatment for diseases of descending thoracic aorta.METHODS AND RESULTSFrom March 1999 to October 2003, 132 patients (113 male and 19 female, mean age 62+/-14
years) were enrolled. They were divided into 4 groups: aneurysms (43, group A), post-traumatic
lesions (24, group B), and complicated type B dissections (43, group C). Twenty-two
further patients, with chronic type B dissection and not suitable for endovascular
or surgical or hybrid techniques because of multiple entry tears without difference
between the true and false lumen and poor clinical conditions, were obliged to receive
medical management only (group D). All patients underwent computed tomography (CT)
scan and angiography as preoperative assessment. An optimal deployment with exclusion
of the aneurysm and/or closure of the entry tear in dissection was achieved in 96.4%
(106/110) of the patients that were discharged in good conditions within 6 days. No
spinal cord injuries were observed. The follow-up (average 20.82+/-10.01 months, range
1 to 55 months), performed with serial chest CT scans, was 100% complete. No stent
graft-related complications were detected, although only in 1 case, an asymptomatic
rupture of the Excluder connecting bar was found with a perforation of the fabric
and an intra-aortic exposition of the bar itself. In 2 patients with chronic dissection
an asymptomatic type II endoleak was detected. A total of 4 hospital deaths resulted
in an overall operative mortality of 3.9%. Seven patients (6.3%) died during the follow-up
5 of them for other diseases (4.5%). However, a 40.9% mortality was observed within
the obliged medical treatment group.CONCLUSIONSEndovascular treatment of thoracic aortic diseases, even in the acute phase, may represent
a valid option with a low mortality rate. Moreover, the efficacy is proved in the
middle-term whereas the long-term follow-up is still pending.